Parallel-sliding-door construction



- 1,428,023. Patented Sept- 5, 1922. m 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

RANTZ.- PARALLEL SL DOOR CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATLON FILED JUNE 23. 1920.

P. FRANTZ. PARALLEL SLIDING DOOR CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23, I920.

Patented Sept. 5, 1922.

ii M ran STATES PATENT orrics.

PETER FRANTZ, OF STERLING, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO FRANTZ MA NUFACTURING COMPANY, OF STERLING, ILLINOISpA CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

' PARALIiEL-SLID ING-DOOR CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed June 23, 1920. Serial no; 391,076.

zen'of the United States of America, and a residentof Sterling, Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Parallel Sliding Door Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to parallel sliding doors in general, but more particularly to garage doors or the like, in which each door is hung to slide past the other. I

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby the two tracks and the housing for the hangers are formed from sheet metal the top wall of which is adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the doorway, or to any suitable support, either inside or outside the doorway, as may be de sired.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general elticiency and the desirability of a door construction of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a parallel sliding door construction involving the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 3-3 in Fig. 1, through the combined double track and housing, assuming the two doors to be side by side or together.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing another method of supporting the housing.

Fig. 5 is a cross section of the housing, showing another form of the invention.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a door frame in the front of the garage or other building. The sheet metal housing and track comprises a top wall 2, side walls 3, and the curved or trough-like tracks 4: at the lower edges of the sides. Each side wall 3, it will be seen, has its lower portion curved inward gradually to the bottom of the track, so that the side walls of the housing are spaced a distance from the sides of the wheeled trucks of the hangers,

and whereby the structure is rendered strong and rigid and less liable to sag under the weight of the door. The hangers have wheels 5 adapted to travel in said tracks,

so that said hangers travel in parallel vertical planes. The ,two doors 6 and 6 are supported by: said hangers, in any. suitable manner, and are thus arranged to slide back and forth in said planes, so that either door will pass the other.

purpose of rigidly securing the housing to the bottom of the upper portion of the doorway, whereby the two doors are directly in the door-way. Thus either door can be shoved to one side, and the two doors together can be moved over to the other side of the doorway. In a garage door construction of this kind, therefore, the width of the-doorway would be, for examplc, about sixteen feet, and each sliding door 6 would be eight feet wide, whereby either side of the opening can be opened toreceive a car, either door being shoved over to open one half of the doorway. Notwithstanding that the housing and parallel tracks are all formed from one piece of sheet metal, the two doors are separate and slide in parallel planes. eather strips 8 are secured to the upper portions of the doors to extend upward between the tracks 5, thereby to exclude dust and snow and rain, one strip being secured to the inner surface of one door, and the other strip being secured to the outer surface of the other door.

As shown in Fig. 4, the top wall 2 of the housing is secured to L-shaped brackets 9 secured to the outside surface of the building over the doorway. These brackets are held in position by screws 10, and bolts 11 are inserted through the top wall of the housing, and through the slot' 12' of each bracket, so that the two tracks and the two doors supported thereon by the hanger are all outside of the building. In this way both doors can be shoved to each side to open the entire doorway, it being understood that the sheet metal housing and double track may, if desired, be made long enough, in

this case, to extend a distance beyond the doorway at either side thereof, or at both sides.

As shownin Fig. 5, the housing is com- Screws 7 are inserted upward through theflat top wall 2 for the posed of two sheet metal sections having top walls 13 and 1 held together by rivets 15 to form a double top wall, and this wall of double thickness is held in place by screws 16, or by any suitable means. I

Thus, with either construction shown and described, the two tracks and the housing form a box-like structure in which the hangers are free to travel back and forth and pass each other without anything between them, and without interference, as they are at opposite sides of the guide slot formed between the two tracks, so that a single housing is suflicient to both support and enclose the hangers oi the parallel sliding doors.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In combination with a doorway, a housing secured at its top to the under side of the top portion of the doorway, so that this housing which is formed of sheet metal and provided with parallel tracks is overhead in the doorway, and parallel sliding doors hung in the doorway on said tracks in position to slide past each other.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said housing having a flat top wall, inwardly and upward bent lower edge portions to form said tracks, with a slot bet-ween the latter, and means inserted upwardly through said wall to secure the housing in position in the doorway.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, and means secure to the doors to extend upwardly bet-ween said tracks.

4. The combination of a doorway, parallel tracks disposed overhead directly in the upper portion of the doorway, so that said tracks are in the plane ofthe doorway, and parallel sliding doors in the doorway on said tracks in position to slide past each other in said plane.

5. The improved parallel sliding door construction, having parallel tracks disposed side by side with a guide slot between them, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a parallel sliding door construction, the combination of a sheet metal housing and double track, having parallel tracks disposed side by side witha guide slotbetween them, hangers on the two parallel tracks, adapted to pass each other in said slot, parallel doors supported by said hangers, and means to sup- =portthe top wall of said housing.

7. A structure as specified in claim 6, said housing being composed of two sect-ions of sheet metal, with one section overlapping the other to form a double thickness for said top wall.

8. A structure as specified in claim 6, said housing having side walls which are turned inward at their lower edges to form said tracks, with a slot between the tracks thus formed, so that the hangers are spaced apart to pass each other freely in the one chamber formed between the side walls of the housing.

9. In a sliding door construction, the combination of a sheet metal housing and double track provided with parallel lower portions forming the two tracks, which a guide slot between the two tracks, and having vertical side walls for the housing, each side wall having its lower port-ions curved gradually inward to the bottom of the track, and doors having hangers supported on said tracks and adapted to pass each other in said slot.

PETER FR-ANTZ. 

